Terrafugia Transition car-plane hybrid takes to the skies

We first wrote about the Terrafugia Transition back in 2010, and now three years later this flying car is (slightly) closer to an actual launch (no pun intended).

The Transition’s second prototype has just completed a test flight-cum-drive at the EAA AirVenture expo in Wisconsin. It took off, flew around a bit, landed, folded up its wings and drove off. In other words, it’s doing what it’s supposed to.

Better start saving...

The Transition will be fully street legal, runs on premium unleaded petrol (it gets 35 miles per gallon) and is designed to fit in a standard garage. In flight, it can cruise at 100mph and has a range of 410 miles (plus 30 minutes of reserve flying in case of emergency); there's space inside for two people, luggage – or perhaps a set of golf clubs? It's powered by a 100hp Rotax engine.

There’ll be a third prototype model built and tested before Terrafugia puts the Transition into production. The company is aiming for a 2016 consumer launch. While that might seem like a really long way off, think of it this way: it gives you more time to save up the US$279,000 (around £184,000) it’ll take to own one. You can ensure you’re not left out by dropping a US$10,000 (£6,590) deposit.